Operation Cobra
Operation Cobra is an operation featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It makes its début in the first episode of the first season. History The next morning, Henry sits on his bed happily as he watches the clock move. His mom walks in with his storybook, and asks where the torn out pages are. He claims not to know, though Regina cares quite a bit as Henry seems to think she is some "evil queen", and it hurts her feelings as his mother. Henry retorts that she is not his mother, and as the clock tower chimes, he rushes off to the diner to order a cinnamon hot chocolate for Emma. From another table booth, he reveals himself and invites her to walk him to school. Upon seeing her try to eat one of Regina's apples, he hastily throws it away and engages her in conversation about the curse by adopting the name "Operation Cobra" to keep the Evil Queen off their trail. He pulls out torn out pages from the storybook, and claims the infant in the drawing is her. During an outdoor school lesson, he called out by his mom, who tells him that Emma was arrested. Though Regina warns that Emma is a con woman, he is unfazed by the news and excuses himself back to class. With Mary Margaret, Henry bails Emma out of jail. After school, he arrives home to overhear Emma in discussion with Regina, and is extremely hurt when she refers to him as "crazy". Henry runs off before she can explain. Later, while still upset, he refuses to talk during a session with Archie until Emma bursts in to clear up the misunderstanding. Emma regains Henry's trust by telling him she told Regina what was necessary to throw her off their trail as they work to break the curse. To prove her point, she takes the storybook pictures and burns them in the fireplace so Regina will never find out. With his faith restored, Henry happily runs to hug Emma. During a hospital volunteer day with his class, Henry curiously wanders into the room of a comatose patient, John Doe, when Mary Margaret enters. She explains the mystery of the man's identity. From this, he begins to believe John Doe is Prince Charming, and later proclaims to Emma that the man is her father. Through much persistence, he begs Emma to have Mary Margaret read the Snow White fairytale in his book to John Doe. Mary Margaret agrees, and the three plan to meet at the diner for a full report in the morning. Henry waits expectantly with Emma, and is pleased when Mary Margaret blurts out that John Doe grabbed her hand in his sleep. They rush back to the hospital only to discover John Doe disappeared the previous night. Regina drags Henry back home while Sheriff Graham takes care of the investigation, but he sneaks out into the forest as a search party is ongoing. He insists that John Doe is looking for Mary Margaret. While Emma wants to take Henry home, Graham finds John Doe's patient tag. At the shore, Mary Margaret begins resuscitating John Doe using mouth-to-mouth, nearly giving up, when he sputters awake. Back at the hospital, Henry and the others watch from outside the door as John Doe is put into recovery when a blonde woman, Kathryn, rushes in. As it turns out, Kathryn is John Doe's long lost wife, and his real name is David Nolan. Regina calls Henry to leave for home, though he makes an excuse to grab his backpack. To Mary Margaret, he assures that she and David belong together. Henry obediently follows Regina's rules for staying home and doing his homework, but once she leaves for a council meeting, he bolts out to find Emma at Mary Margaret's apartment. Henry runs into Mr. Gold, who is just leaving the apartment, and expresses confusion to Emma over the identity of his fairytale counterpart. Emma informs Henry that a pregnant woman, Ashley, is missing, and she needs to find her. Henry ignores her orders to go home and follows along to the diner, where she proceeds to interrogate Ruby. When Ruby reveals that Ashley has two stepsisters and a stepmother, Henry quickly catches on and starts to mention "Operation Cobra", but Emma shushes him before he can finish. Next, Emma decides to see Ashley's ex-boyfriend, Sean. She is told by his father, Mitchell Herman, that Ashley has agreed to sell her baby to Mr. Gold. Henry warns her that she cannot make Ashley break a deal with Mr. Gold. When the duo questions Ruby again, she admits she let Ashley have her car to drive out of Boston. Emma sends Henry home, but as she is driving away to find Ashley, he pops up in the back seat. He states that no one will be able to leave Storybrooke because of the Dark Curse, and if anyone tries, bad things will happen. On the side of the road, Ashley is going into labor, to which Emma drives her back to the hospital. While in the waiting room, Henry claims to Emma that no one can leave Storybrooke except her. This fact, he argues, reinforced his idea about the Enchanted Forest and that she really was the savior. After Emma saves Ashley's baby from being taken by Mr. Gold, she drives Henry home. He narrowly escapes getting caught by Regina when she gets home. The next day, Henry is in another session with Archie. He strongly believes his therapist used to be Jiminy Cricket as Archie humors him. Moments after, the town suffers an earthquake and a large sinkhole appears at the entrance of an abandoned mine. He and Archie go to the site to have a look. Henry notices Regina tuck something into her coat, and believes the sinkhole must have evidence of the curse. He relates this idea to both Archie and Emma, but is cut off when Regina orders him into her car. At the next therapy session, Marco comes to Archie's office in order to see his long-time friend. Henry excitedly reveals that Marco is actually Geppetto, and outlines his plans to search the mine because he is positive that the sinkhole's sudden appearance has something to do with the curse. Archie cuts him off; telling him that if he continues on with his crazy idea, people will think he is insane and lock him up. Henry is crushed by Archie's demand that his nonsense must end, and leaves visibly upset. In tears, he goes straight to Emma, who comforts him and then drops him back home. Nonetheless, Henry is unable to give up on his idea, and ventures into the mines. Inside, he removes a piece of decorative glass that bears a striking similarity to the one Regina pocketed earlier. Suddenly, the ceiling begins collapsing. Henry finds Archie inside the mines as well, and they become lost. From following the sound of Pongo's bark, they come upon an elevator and start cranking it upward to the surface, but it gets stuck halfway up. Henry apologizes for being reckless as Archie is also remorseful for his own harsh words earlier. In truth, he doesn't really think Henry is crazy, and though Regina is extremely protective, it's perfectly fine to have an imagination. In turn, Henry inspires Archie to change into the person he wants to be rather than listening to other people all the time. They discuss Henry's fairytale theory, and his firm belief that there simply has to be more to the world. Suddenly, Emma is lowered down on a harness to bring them up. Archie almost falls with the collapsing elevator, but latches on to Emma's foot with umbrella. All three of them are lifted to safety. After David is released from the hospital, he and Emma attend his welcome home party. Henry theorizes that David doesn't remember his life as Prince Charming due to the curse, and needs to recall them before his false memories set in. Emma tries to convince him that the reason David got lost a few nights back by the Toll Bridge is due to amnesia. Henry thinks if David is asked about his previous sword fighting skills as Prince Charming, it will jog his memory. When he openly inquiries about this later, David laughs at the thought. Sheriff Graham stops by Regina's house where Henry answers the door. Graham wants to speak with Henry, and asks Henry if he is in his book. After showing him a picture of wolf, Graham recognizes it as the Wolf he has seen around Storybrooke, and tells Henry that he has been flashes of what he believes to be a past life, and they began after he kissed Emma. Henry is surprised Graham kissed Emma, and listens as he continues to describe the flashes; one being the wolf, the other having a knife and getting ready to hurt Mary Margaret. Henry turns the page, and finds out that Graham is the Huntsman because he was raised by wolves, and once spared Snow White's life. Graham asks what happened to him after he spared Snow White's life, and Henry states the Evil Queen ripped out his heart. Two weeks later, Mr. Gold convinces Emma to become sheriff since she already is deputy. Before she can put the badge on, Regina fires her and plans to put Sidney as the new sheriff. Led on by Mr. Gold, Emma challenges Regina with the town charter rules, which state a mayor can only support a candidate and not instate one. Emma quickly wins support from the townspeople after rescuing Regina from a fire in town hall, which she later realizes was staged by Mr. Gold. At the same time, Henry becomes depressed and warns Emma that they should not mess with the curse. He blames himself for Graham's death and wants to give up on "Operation Cobra". On the day Emma gives her candidate electoral speech, she exits out of the race after indicting Mr. Gold as the fire-starter culprit to the townspeople. To Emma's surprise, her courage in standing up to Mr. Gold earns everyone's respect and she is elected as the new sheriff. Moreover, Henry's faith is renewed when Emma wins the position as the new town sheriff. A few days later, Henry is browsing in Mr. Clark's store when two children about his age walk up to him. They introduce themselves as Ava and Nicholas and ask him to hang out. Just as Henry is about to leave, Mr. Clark corners them and accuses them of shoplifting. He calls Regina who, when she arrives, is confident that Henry is framed by the two orphans. Henry arrives at the police station and tells Emma that Ava and Nicholas are really Hansel and Gretel, and asks her about his birth father. Emma tells him that his father was a man training to be a firefighter who liked pumpkin pie and died trying to save a family from a burning apartment building. Emma succeeds in reuniting Ava and Nicholas with their father, and Henry gets a pumpkin pie to share with Emma. As they leave the diner, he comments she really is changing things in Storybrooke. Suddenly, they hear a rumbling noise, and turn to see a man on a motorcycle riding into town. In the morning, Henry walks out of his house with his backpack when he sees the stranger from last night with his motorcycle and a large box attached to the back of it. He asks the man what he is doing in Storybrooke, and that no one ever comes here. Regina notices Henry conversing with the stranger, and comes out to investigate, but the man drives away quickly on his motorcycle. Later, Emma confronts August to ask what he carries around in the wooden box strapped to his motorcycle. Only after she consents to his offer of a drink, he opens the box to reveal a typewriter and explains the town is writing inspiration for him. He leaves and promises to buy her a drink in the future. Once more, Emma butts heads with Regina. Like her, Sidney has been nursing a grudge against Regina since she fired him from his editing job. Emma is unsure about helping him, so he gives her his name card. However, when Regina tears down Henry's castle for so-called safety concerns, Emma becomes angry and calls Sidney. Together, they discover Regina is keeping quite a few secrets, such as embezzlement of fifty thousand dollars from the treasury and land she bought from Mr. Gold to build a house in the woods. When they expose her greed at the town meeting, Regina reveals her "house" is actually a modern playground for Henry and for all the children of Storybrooke. Humiliated and ashamed, Emma leaves, but Regina catches up and warns her to stay away from Henry, or else she will get a restraining order. Emma and Sidney go have a drink at the diner and vow to become allies against Regina's cruelty. After Henry's castle is destroyed, August takes the storybook from its hiding place and brings it back to his room at the bed and breakfast. A few days later, during Mr. Gold's imprisonment for physical assault on Moe, Regina arrives at the station with Henry. She bribes Emma to spend some time with him so she can speak to Mr. Gold for thirty minutes. He and Emma go to the parlor to get ice cream. After that, Regina gives Henry a video game to apologize for her destroying his castle, but Henry still misses his book. A few minutes later, a visibly upset Kathryn comes into Regina's office in order to speak with her, and Henry leaves. Meanwhile, August begins "repairing" Henry's storybook, adding the story of Pinocchio to it. The next day, Emma finds the storybook on the ground as she is brushing leaves off of her car. August is watching her from around the corner as she picks it up, hinting that he might have placed it there on purpose. Emma notices Mary Margaret's reputation takes a dive after the whole roomful of people at the diner ignore her efforts to ask for Miner's Day festival volunteers. Following a quick chat with Mary Margaret, she heads to the site of Kathryn's disappearance to give David the news of his wife's missing status. Sidney procures inside information from a phone company with evidence of Kathryn's eight-minute long conversation with David. Though this makes David a possible suspect, Emma doesn't pursue the matter any further until Regina comes to the station looking for news on Kathryn. Regina threatens to replace Emma if she is covering for someone. Reluctantly, Emma goes to the festival and places David into custody as a person of interest in the case. She stays up all night interviewing David, but he sticks to his story of having nothing to do with Kathryn's disappearance. Emma grudgingly lets David leave and advises him to get a lawyer. As she is walking home, she meets up with Mary Margaret, and begins a conversation with her about David. At the corner, they see Ruby at the bus stop evading the advances of Dr. Whale. After forcing him to leave, they learn Ruby is out of a job and place to stay, so Emma and Mary Margaret take her in as an apartment roommate. Though Ruby has a difficult time finding a job, Emma recognizes that she has a knack for answering phones and hires her as an assistant. Just then, Mary Margaret walks in to notify Emma about how strange David is acting in the forest. She and Ruby head there to come across a delirious and bleeding David. At the hospital, Dr. Whale diagnoses it as a blackout similar to what David experienced just after waking up from the coma. Regina barges in to demand David's arrest. To keep that from happening, Emma instructs Ruby to look for something useful for the investigation before David goes into another trance. Ruby complies and finds a box with a human heart in it, but decides the job is not for her and resigns. Afterwards, Emma runs scans on the box for fingerprints. She goes to the animal shelter to inform David and Mary Margaret of the results. Rather than David, the prints are Mary Margaret's. Many days later, after Ruby and her grandmother reconcile, August finds Henry poring over his storybook. They have a quick discussion about Mary Margaret's arrest over Kathryn's disappearance, and August reveals that the storybook's tales just might be true. This excites Henry, and the mysterious writer says that he has come back to Storybrooke to help Emma believe in Operation Cobra. When Henry tells him that he wants to find proof of Mary Margaret's innocence, August implies that he should look in the book for answers, and leaves the diner. The next night, Emma walks into the sheriff department in an active conversation with Mr. Gold. Henry praises her for the escape plan, but Emma has no idea what he is talking about until finding Mary Margaret missing from the cell. Mr. Gold urges that Mary Margaret must be found before eight o'clock, which is the time of the arraignment as well as when Regina will arrive at the station and discover her gone. Emma goes out in search of Mary Margaret and accidentally hits a man, Jefferson, on the road. To make it up to him, she drives Jefferson home. He invites Emma into his house and offers her some tea. After drinking it, she passes out and awakens to find herself bound up. To break free, Emma smashes a tea cup with a pillow and uses one of the broken edges to cut out her way out. She sneaks past Jefferson, who is sharpening a pair of scissors, and discovers Mary Margaret in a separate room. They attempt to escape, but are caught by Jefferson. Emma is taken to a separate room filled with hats and commanded by Jefferson to make a hat so that he can go back to the Enchanted Forest. Since he believes himself to be the Mad Hatter, she concludes that Jefferson must be in on Henry's theory. He refuses to let her go until she makes a hat "work", though Emma only makes an unfinished bowler hat. Jefferson shows her a telescope image of a girl next door, who he believes is his daughter, Grace. To gain his trust, Emma pretends to sympathize by declaring that she thinks Mary Margaret is her own mother. When his back is turned, she hits him on the head with the telescope and hurries to Mary Margaret. A brief struggle with Jefferson ensues, but Mary Margaret hits and kicks him out the window. They begin leaving after finding no sign of Jefferson anywhere. Emma offers Mary Margaret the option of taking her car and leaving for Boston or going back to the jail. She confesses fears about being lonely if Mary Margaret leaves because she considers her to be family. Mary Margaret decides to go back to the jail. In the aftermath, Emma meets up with Henry at school when the same girl Jefferson pointed out to her, Paige, walks past. She borrows Henry's book and turns to a section showing a photo of the Mad Hatter and his daughter. Emma is confused by the photographic resemblance. While headed off to work, Emma is approached by David, who clarifies his last encounter with Mary Margaret, and that he doesn't actually think she is guilty. David wants to see her in person, but Emma presses that Mary Margaret doesn't want visitors, and the last person she needs to hear from is him. At the sheriff's office, Mr. Gold suggests Mary Margaret's personality can help the charges get dropped, so Emma thinks it'd be a good idea to allow an interview with the District Attorney. In passing, Sidney hands over flowers for Emma, though he is regretful to not finding anything in the case showing Regina is involved. From outside the room, Emma and Regina watch the interview between the District Attorney Mr. Spencer and Mary Margaret. However, it all goes awry when Mary Margaret has an agitated outburst over her innocence being called into question and admits in the heat of the moment that she "wanted Kathryn gone", which serves as a murder confession. Later, Emma is approached by August, who gives her some advice on revisiting old information in the case to discover new tidbits. They go past the Toll Bridge where Ruby found the jewelry box with the human heart in it. While examining the hole, she finds a shovel shard. Emma has a hunch about whose shovel it is, and enlists the help of Henry to infiltrate Regina's garage. Inside, Emma finds a shovel with a chipped off piece, which is a perfect fit with the broken shard. Having found the link Regina has both to the crime scene and as a suspect in the case, Emma comes to the front door the next day with a search warrant to look in the shed. To her surprise, the shovel is now fully intact. Thinking she has been betrayed, she confronts August about his double crossing by assisting Regina, but he claims his innocence profusely; something Emma has a hard time believing. Later, the police come to take Mary Margaret away in preparation for the trial. She is upset that putting her trust in Mr. Gold has yielded no help for Mary Margaret, though he claims there is still time to "work a little magic". Unable to simmer her frustration, Emma hurls the vase of flowers in her office across the room. It smashes, and between the broken glass and wet flowers, she finds an audio spying device. This helps her realize Sidney was spying on her, not August. She quickly finds and apologies to August. Then, they hear Ruby's frantic scream behind the diner. Emma goes into the alley to investigate and finds a battered up and alive Kathryn. During Kathryn's recovery stay at the hospital, Emma goes to take a statement from her. Kathryn remembers being kidnapped and kept alive in a dark basement where food and water were readily available, but there was never anyone around. She recounts being drugged, waking up in a field near town and crawling her way to the alley. With one job done, Emma approaches Sidney at the diner to let him know she is aware of his backstabbing. Though Sidney does not deny Regina is dangerous, he also admits to being in love with her. She leaves him an ultimatum to help her find the evidence Regina is behind Mary Margaret's false murder charge, or go down with Regina once incriminating proof is found. Since Kathryn's reappearance, Mary Margaret is relieved of any wrongdoing in the case. Emma throws her a welcome home party in the apartment as many town residents show up for the celebration. She has suspicions that Mr. Gold may have kidnapped and held Kathryn hostage, but he plays off her claims. Emma sends Henry home early to keep Regina from finding out where he's been. As she opens the door, David is on the other side. Since Mary Margaret is not ready to speak to him yet, she asks him to walk Henry home. Later in the night, Emma goes back to the sheriff's office where Regina comes forward with a confession. To her annoyance, Sidney admits to having abducted Kathryn in the hopes he might obtain his editor job back. She doesn't believe him and leads Regina out to the hallway for a talk. Once they are alone, Emma cannot hold back from containing her disgust at Regina's scheming ways. Regina reveals nothing in her involvement in kidnapping Kathryn, but Emma has had it with the mayor. She vows to make her pay, especially since Regina once took away someone she loved, and now she will do the same by fighting for custody of her son, Henry. Emma turns to Mr. Gold for assistance in taking on Regina so she can have Henry. He refuses to help, so this points her into August's direction as an alternative. He takes her to a road in the woods and confronts Emma with the truth—that she is the savior and must save everyone from the curse. August introduces himself as Pinocchio, the seven-year-old that found her when she was an infant, and to prove his point, he shows her his leg. To Emma, she sees nothing but a normal leg. She moves to walk away, to which August angrily scolds her for not believing that everyone needs her. Emma does not want responsibility for others, which she claims the role of sheriff gives her. Taking matters into her own hands, she picks up Henry for a drive in her car, but is actually leaving town with him. Henry begs Emma not to depart from Storybrooke since she still needs to save everyone from the curse. However, she'd rather bring him out of town so he can be away from Regina for good. When she doesn't listen to Henry, he purposely swerves the car as the vehicle crashes into a ditch. Pushed by his insistent pleads that Emma's family needs her, she decides to drop the plan for now. Emma returns to the apartment to face a disappointed roommate. Mary Margaret is very upset, despite that Emma once considered them as family, she left without a word. She admits to not wanting the role of sheriff and people relying on her. Emma confesses she attempted to take Henry with her as well. Mary Margaret calls attention to the fact kidnapping Henry has never been what's best for a child, and Emma just wants to run away by reverting into the previous person she used to be. She takes Mary Margaret's advice by figuring out what is best for Henry, and goes to confer with Archie about gaining custody. He doesn't see the chances as very likely since Henry has been continuously misbehaving since her arrival in town. Out of choices, she informs Regina that she is leaving Storybrooke, but wants visitation with Henry. Regina agrees and gives her a baked apple turnover as a parting travel treat. As Emma is packing up her belongs in the apartment, Henry enters. She lets him know her reasons for leaving town, that other people shouldn't be hurt in the tug-of-war with Regina, and the two have a farewell hug. However, he is uneasy at the sight of Regina's apple turnover on the counter. Henry snatches the turnover and states that she may not believe in the curse or in him, but he believes in her. Then, he bites into the turnover and faints. Horrified at the turn of events, Emma takes Henry to the hospital and refuses to leave his side. While checking his bag, she grabs the book and receives a flash of memories of her brief time in the Enchanted Forest. She attacks Regina, realizing that it is her fault Henry is sick. Regina admits everything, and together they set off to Mr.Gold's. He gives Emma her father's sword, and Regina guides her to Maleficent's underground prison. Abandoning the sword early on, Emma uses her gun on the dragon; to no avail. Eventually, she slays Maleficent with the sword, and retrieves the true love potion. As she is travelling up the elevator, it stops suddenly and Emma calls for help. Mr. Gold answers, claiming Regina has "run off". She tosses him the egg, which he leaves with. She climbs up to see Regina tied up and frees her. They prepare to go after Mr. Gold, but receive an urgent call from the hospital and learn upon arrival that Henry has passed. Emma kisses Henry's forehead as a goodbye; inadvertently triggering the effects of true love's kiss. He comes back to life as the curse breaks. }} Mary Margaret is taken into a hospital delivery room while Regina and Emma enact a protective spell. Emma and Hook go to deal with Zelena at the farmhouse, but the savior is forced to give up her magic to save the pirate's life. Thus, the barrier around the delivery room fades. Regina, as the last line of defense, stands in Zelena's way, but is quickly overpowered by her sister, who proceeds to steal the newborn infant for a time spell. Persuaded by both Henry Mills and Robin Hood that she is capable of light magic, Regina uses it to defeat Zelena once and for all. She rips off Zelena's pendant; stripping her of magic. Rather than allow a freed Mr. Gold to kill Zelena, Regina seizes the dagger to compel him to stop while she spares her life. After imprisoning her sister in a cell, Regina reasons that they've both suffered as Cora's daughters and by having lives they didn't want. She also knows what it's like to be fueled by vengeance and gives Zelena a second chance to reshape a better future for herself. Later, Regina delivers the dagger into Belle's hands for safekeeping. Unknown to Regina, Mr. Gold later "kills" Zelena; accidentally triggering magic in her pendant, which activates the time spell. }} Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. ----